Gonzaga Building Toward Elite Status
Second-class strokers no more.
After years of wallowing in the shallow end, the Gonzaga University women’s crew team is turning its program into a winner. Earlier this month on Lake Natoma near Sacramento, Calif., the Bulldogs finished second out of 15 boats in the women’s Varsity Eight at the California state championships and followed with a first-place finish at the five-school West Coast Conference championships.
“When I came here, we weren’t very competitive,” said Gonzaga coach Suzie Lueck, who has been with Gonzaga for five years, three as head coach. “It was more of a social thing.
“Now, the athletes are expecting to do more. Each year we’re getting faster and faster.”
The Bulldogs’ first major sign of improvement with the Varsity Eight happened on March 29 at its annual regatta on Long Lake. For the first time in 12 races, Gonzaga defeated Washington State. The result earned the boat an invitation to the University of Washington’s opening day regatta where it competed Saturday against the Huskies’ JV Eight team in the annual Windermere Cascade Cup. The Washington men and women swept the JV races.
“Beating Washington State has been the highlight so far,” Lueck said.
Since then, the Cougs’ Varsity Eight has come back to defeat Gonzaga twice, most recently a week ago Saturday on Vancouver Lake, where WSU strengthened its position in the conference with a win over Oregon State. GU finished third.
The Bulldogs have been reaping other benefits by winning.
“Because we’re being more competitive, we’re drawing better athletes,” said Lueck, who rowed at the University of Washington where she was coached by WSU coach Tammy Crawford her freshman year. “Crew has become a legitimate sport here, that definitely helps.”
Lueck expects her Varsity Eight boat only to get better. Of the eight rowers with coxswain, only captain Kristine Holzer and Anita Kotik are seniors.
The Varsity Four boat, in which Lueck has used a combination of six different rowers, has been GU’s most successful and is ranked second in the West region.
The Gonzaga women’s program is a varsity sport, one that is sanctioned by the NCAA, but the school does not offer scholarships. The 30-member team paid $150 each in dues this year and generated $200 each in fund-raisers.
This year, Gonzaga, formerly a member of the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association, has been accepted into the Pac-10 Conference. The Huskies are the favorites to win the title, which would earn them one of eight automatic bids in the Varsity Eight, JV Eight and Varsity Four races at this year’s first-ever NCAA-sanctioned championships at Lake Natoma.
Another West region berth, and one Washington State is fighting for, will be selected at-large. Individual boats also are invited and that’s where Gonzaga could be represented with its Varsity Four team.
“We thought that (Varsity Four) would be a competitive team this year,” Lueck said.
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